Saturday, December 24, 2005

Baloz: a type of Galata dance club patronized by sailors and port workers. The name probably derived from the "ballo italiano" italian ballo/baloz (from Latin: balare/to dance). In contrast to all male Galata Taverns -mostly basement or ground floor- baloz was an upper floor affair for dance and music and women were found as well working as a "konsomatris/ En.hostess,escort /Fr.consommatrice". Today's "b-girl" woman employed by a bar to act as a companion to male customers.

Baloz became popular during the times of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulaziz (1830-1876) who visited Western Europe in 1867, being the first Ottoman sultan to do so, and he was made a "Knight of the Garter" by Queen Victoria. Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph (appointment annulled 1915)and the Russian Tzar Alexander II also received the same title in 1867.Further Source: Perhaps the most important late eighteenth-century technical manual was Gennaro Magri's Trattato teorico-prattico di ballo, published in Naples in 1779. By the end of the eighteenth century, the differentiation between theatrical and social dance was nearly complete; professional dancers were performing increasingly complex steps while social dancers were concentrating on the growing genre of group dances.

"Pallikari" (plural Pallikarya). (Turkish: yigit) Greek word for young men, brave men, it connotes strength and youth. In Petri's times Palikarya was usually assigned to Rum/Greek street gangs of istanbul.

The Pallikari of Nesmine Rifat by David Solway

For his celebrated poetry collection Saracen Island, David Solway took on the voice of a Greek poet named Andreas Karavis. So artful were these poems that many readers believed they were authentic translations from Greek by Karavis. The Pallikari of Nesmine Rifat continues Solway's inspired poetic ruse. In this new book of ostensible translations, he adopts the persona of Karavis's spurned lover, Turkish Cypriot poet Nesmine Rifat. Lushly sexual and sparkling with wit and intelligence, these extraordinary poems take the form of a series of undelivered letters, penned in the wake of Karavis's desertion and eventual marriage to Anna Zoumi. With great subtlety and sensitivity, Solway portrays a powerful woman and gifted poet undergoing a violent emotional journey from explosive anger and arrogant disdain to bitter melancholy and undying passion.

It was built during the tenth century by three brother, the monks Moses, Aaron and John (Ioannis) from Achris (Ohrid). It is dedicated to Saint George. It occupies the ninth rank in the hierarchical order of the twenty Athonite monasteries. It is inhabited by 15 monks (1990) and is coenobitic (communal). Initially, the monastery was inhabited by Bulgarians, Greeks and Serbs. Its monks are all Bulgarian, since 1845, and the services are performed in Bulgarian.

The monastery is situated on a slope of the S.W. part of the peninsula. The Katholicon was built in the beginning of the last century and follows the athonite type. The monastery was founded, according to tradition, in the 10th c. by three brothers, Moses, Aaron and Ioannis from Achris. In the Late Byzantine period, the monastery is destroyed by Catalan pirates and rebuilt with the financial support of the Paleologan dynasty, as well as that of rulers of eastern Europe.

Besides two miraculous icons of St George and other two of the Virgin of the Akathistos and the Virgin Epakouousa, the monastery owns and other heirlooms and ecclesiastical vessels. The library is located in the monastery's tower. It features rare manuscripts, Greek and Bulgarian codices, and 10,000 printed books in Greek and the Slavic languages. Its most prized treasure is the codice 1, which contains Bulgaria's first history, written by the monk Paisios in 1745.

She met Petri under the assumed name of Magdalena, a prostitute. When Petri ended up at her room in a cul de sac in Galata he was ambushed and killed by Lambo a brother and a sailor of Lefteri Kaptan. When he was killed one early morning in August 28 1880, Petri was about 24-25 years old.

Kiryakica is the female version of Kiryaki, a greek name. Turkish shadow play karagoz and street theater in the round "orta oyunu" has a doctor character called 'Nikolaki', 'Apostal', 'Niko', 'Kiryako' a westerner (frenk), greek or balama (a rum/a grrek native of Ottoman domain) who speaks a melange of Italian and Greek and the incomprehensibility of this tongue is the main point of humor.

After his 7th murder incident, a double murder of Argiri papazi of Kefalonya and Havyarci Zambo (Zambo the Caviar Merchant), Petri went to a tavern at Kalyoncu Kullugu with Dragoman Nikola of Raguza . The Ottoman Admiralty was responsible for the policing of Kasimpasa and Galata neighborhoods and each area was assigned a Sergeant who would patrol the shores all night long (kol gezmek) with his sailor police teams who were headquartered at Kalyoncu Kollugu.

Friday, December 23, 2005

One of Petri's hideouts was among the fishermen in a village near Catalca called Kalikratia (today's Mimarsinan) after his murder number 12.

The village of Mimarsinan is part of Buyukcekmece County of Istanbul. Travellers used to cross this area by using rafts pulled by ropes hence the names of the lakes called Buyukcekmece and Kucukcekmece. (cekmece meaning pull). Near the Sinan designed bridge there is place called Dalyani. Famous traveler Evliya Celebi does not mention any fishing activity but mentions yilan (eel) and pisi (Flounder/ Platichtys flesus) and this is where Petri must have found some work.

(1) DALYAN (FISH WEIR OR FISH TRAP) the fisherman may periodically check to see how many fish have been caught, in order to determine if it is time to harvest the catch. Traditionally, the fisherman would employ a "feeler" who drops a weighted wire into the weir and -- by observing how the fish bump into the wire--determines the volume of fish contained in the weir.

1876 Petri knifed and killed Anesti at a Hotel in Bcharre north of Beirut. (Kocu article says Beirut Hotel called Bisare) Anesti (*) was a Kefalonian looking for him to avange lefteri kaptan. At the time he was working as a stoker for a Trieste based Austrian company ship Galicia under the name Pietri Mavri.

(*) Christos Anesti means Christ is risen.

Lloyd Austriaco had a ship called Galicia but it was built in 1902. Dates do not match. We think the ship Petri worked could be Galatea built in 1871 and in service until 1908. In truth both ships are named after the same Celtic root word.

Lloyd Austriaco / Austrian Lloyd

Started steamship operations in 1836 based at Trieste, which was then under Austrian rule. Initially traded to the Adriatic and later extended to the rest of the Mediterranean, India and the Far East. The company name changed in 1872 to Austrian Hungarian Lloyd (Lloyd Austro-Ungarico) but reverted to Austrian Lloyd in 1891. In 1881 the company company started services to New York, Brazil and the River Plate, but only made one New York voyage, which was not a financial success. Sailings to South America continued until 1885 when the service was withdrawn. Other routes flourished and by 1886 the company owned 86 ships. Services were suspended during the Great War and the company was re-established as Lloyd Triestino under the Italian flag in 1919. Austrian Lloyd was reconstituted in 1978 as a cargo company.

Vafiadis had his photography studio inside the Sirkeci train station at number 1. He wrote to Lumiere brothers and wanted to buy one of the Cinamatograph camera/projectors following the public screening on December 22, 1885 in Paris. They refused the request claiming that they had only one such unit. The cinematograph arrives in Istanbul in 1886 with the intervention of Sigmund Weinberg.

19th century postcard of Istanbul, most likely by the photography studio of Sebah and Joaillier capturing the period.

The following article is a good backgrounder for Greek naval history. The historical background to the type of piracy Lefteri Kaptan was involved can be found there.The emergence of the Christian Merchants

Thursday, December 22, 2005

1874 Petri gunned down Kelopedi a ruffian in Galata at a sailors dive (meyhane/tavern)

The meyhane culture has been present in Istanbul since the latter half of the 15th century and, surviving through periods of Prohibition and gone through changes, still remains an important part of life in the city. It is said that Istanbul’s meyhanes of the late 15th century were widely known also outside the Ottoman Empire. According to Evliya Çelebi, an Ottoman a travel writer of the 17th century, there were over a thousand meyhanes in Istanbul and about 200 in the Galata area alone at the time of his travels. Other Istanbul areas where many meyhanes were found included Kumkapı, Unkapanı, Fener, Ortaköy, Kuruçeşme, Arnavutköy, Kuzguncuk, Üsküdar and Kadıköy, all of which were also neighbourhoods with large non-Muslim populations. As a general rule, in those days the owners of meyhanes were indeed non-Muslims, mainly Greeks and Armenians.

Originally the drink served in meyhanes was not rakı but wine, but later on the former started gaining popularity and in time replaced wine as the most popular meyhane drink. Rakı is distilled from different fruits in different areas, but the most commonly used one is grape.

On November 26, 326 Constantine announced the transformation of Byzantium in the new capital of the Roman Empire, named after him Constantinople. All aspects of the new city which were reminiscent of Rome were emphasized. Constantinople had seven hills like Rome and the narrow sound (the Golden Horn) which provided a natural port was compared to the Tiber and Constantine built a quarter on a hill on the other side of the Golden Horn in imitation of Trastevere. This quarter was called Sykae and again following the pattern of what had happened in Trastevere (Ripa Romea) it became the preferred settlement of foreigners. The quarter became known as Galata, after a prince from Galatia who settled there. The Venetians settled in Galata, but, as a result of the support given by Venice to the Byzantine Emperor in his fight against the Normans, they moved to Constantinople and Galata became the residence of Genoese merchants.

XVth century Ottoman Map of Galata

Both Genoa and Venice profited by the frequent dynastic quarrels among the members of the Byzantine imperial family to increase their influence and obtain trade rights. They also secured for their merchants a sort of capitulation rights, by which the merchants could form colonies, under the direct jurisdiction of their consular representatives. Galata therefore evolved into a type of independent city-state, similar to those existing in Italy. Because the Genoese central government was rather weak, Galata rulers often took sides in the continuous fights among Byzantines, Serbs, Ottomans, Bulgarians, which responded to their immediate advantage, rather than to the policies of their distant motherland. They strengthened the defenses of Galata by building a very high tower on the top of the hill (it is clearly visible in the map above).

In 1453 Sultan Mehmet II Fatih (the Victorious) laid siege to Constantinople. While a Genoese leader of soldiers of fortune, Giovanni Giustiniani Longo, responded to the appeals for help of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI, and with his 700 soldiers was able to effectively organize the defense of the city, the Genoese of Galata proclaimed their neutrality and as a matter of fact helped the Ottomans, by leaking information and by allowing them to move their fleet by land from the Bosphorus to the Golden Horn through a sort of railway built on the hill of Galata next to the walls of the town. As a result of this policy, Mehmet II, after having conquered Constantinople, renewed to the Genoese of Galata their trading rights. He required however the tower to be lowered and the walls to be broken in several places.

View of the Golden Horn, Constantinople and the Marmara Sea from the Galata Tower

The reason why the Genoese built such a high tower can be easily understood, by going up to its terrace. The tower allowed the view of the open sea beyond the hills and the buildings of Constantinople, so that the Genoese could early detect the arrival of their own ships or of hostile fleets.

View of the entrance to the Bosphorus from Galata Tower

But the hopes of the Genoese to continue their profitable trade in the Black Sea after the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmet II, were short-lived. Memet II had a clear vision of his target of effectively unifying his possessions in Asia and in Europe and prior to attacking Constantinople he built a fortress on the European side of the Bosphorus which controlled the traffic in the strait. It is known as Rumeli Hisari the fortress of Europe, as Europe was called by the Arabs and the other Muslim nations with names derived after Rome. The Ottoman cannon were able to stop any ship trying to travel without permission.

Old buildings in Galata and the tomb of three Genoese maritime agents

The Genoese influence in Galata gradually diminished, especially when in the XVIth century the Genoese fleet, led by the Admiral Andrea Doria, supported the Emperor Charles V in his fight against the Ottoman bases in northern Africa (capture of Tunis, 1535). Francis I, King of France sided with the Ottoman and his policy was in general followed by all the French rulers. This alliance led to France becoming the nation protecting the Catholic merchants living in the Ottoman Empire and there are signs of this influence in some coats of arms which can still be found in Galata. The French poet Andrea Chenier was born in Galata. In the little (and hidden) church of St. Peter and Paul's burial incriptions show that a certain number of Genoese families continued to live in Galata until the XIXth century. In the XIXth century Galata and the area behind it, known as Pera, underwent a great expansion: banks, shipping companies, theatres, shops gave to the Ville de Péra a very Belle Epoque appearance, and only a few old buildings of Galata were spared.

This is the island of Lefteri KaptanLefteri Kaptan was from the island of CephaloniaCephalonia lies at the center of the Ionian Sea and 53 nautical miles from Patras to which is connected by ferry boat, both from the ports of Argostoli and Sami. The island of kefalonia has a surface area of 781 sq. km, with 254 km of coastline and a population of 27,000 inhabitants. The kefalonia island in Greece is connected also to Kyllini in the Peloponnese, from Poros, with Lefkada and with the coast of Aitoloakarnania opposite. During summer, kefalonia island is connected by ferry boat with Zakynthos. Besides the ferry boats the island is also connected by plane to Athens and during the summer to Zakynthos and Corfu.

Lefkada owns its name to the white (leukos in Greek) rocks that characterize the southern part of the island, the cape of Lefkata.The name of Lefkada was first given to the town and then to the entire island.

During the 3rd century BC, the island of Lefkada became part of the Acarnanian Federation along with a part of the mainland.In 230 BC, it allied with the Macedonians to repress the Roman attacks but the Romans won and, in 198 BC, the island came under Roman domination and became part of the Roman province of Nikopolis.

The Venetian domination ended in 1797 when Napoleon Bonaparte and his troupes conquered Venice; with the treaty of Kamboformio, the island of Lefkada became part of the French State.

In 1799 the allied fleet of the Turks, the Russian and the English won the French and conquered Lefkada.

According to mythology, the poetess Sappho fell from these white rocks because she wasn’t able to endure the torture of her love for Phaon.Corinthians colonised the island during the 7th century BC and built the new town of Lefkas and, in 650 BC, they started the construction of the canal that separates Lefkada from the mainland, turning Lefkada into an island.

During this period the island was constituted of many autonomous cities which flourished over the years.

Lefkada played a role in the Persians Wars and participated to the battles with the other Greek cities; the island sent three ships to help during the famous Battle of Salamina, in 480 BC as well as 800 men to fight in the battle of Plataeae.

Lefkada also participated in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) helping its mother-city, Corinth, which was with the Spartans.

In 343 BC, the island allied with the Athenians in order to fight the Macedonians (whom king was Philip II) but Athens was beaten and Lefkada fell under Macedonian rule.

The island became independent only in 312 BC.

Lefkada became part of the province of Achaia during the Byzantine Period and suffered from various pirate attacks due to its strategic position.

During the 6th century AD, Lefkada was included into the “Scheme of Kefalonia” and became, after a temporary overthrow by the crusaders, part of the Dominion of Epirus.

When the Franks conquered Constantinople, in 1204, Lefkada came under their domination but changed for Sicilian rule in 1294 when the bishop Nikiforos A’ Angelos gave the island as a dory to his daughter who married the Sicilian Giovanni Orsini. Lefkada was ruled by the Orsini Family until 1331 who built the fortress of Agia Mavra.

After that, Lefkada came under the domination of various dynasties until 1479 when it was conquered by the Turks who ruled on the island until 1684.

Then, the island came under the rule of the Venetians who were under the commands of Morozini.

During this period the capital of Lefkada was moved to its present location and the economy prospered with the development of trade and navigation.

The “Ionian State” was established in Constantinople on March 1800 with the aim to create the Septinsular Republic but the attempt failed in 1807 because the island returned under French rule again.

This period was a period of prosperity and great agricultural improvements for the island.In parallel the English started occupying the other Ionian Islands and managed to occupy Lefkada in 1810; this occupation became official with the Treaty of Paris that was signed in 1815.

During the English domination Greek language became official, new network of roads were built and the town’s water supply was organised and ameliorated. The official English occupation didn’t last for long but the English Protection of the Ionian Islands lasted until 1864.

During the English rule and Protection, Lefkada and the other Ionian Islands helped the rest of Greece which was still under Turkish rule.

In the 21st May of 1864 a treaty was signed proclaiming the unification of the Ionian Islands (among which is Lefkada) with the independent and newly born Greek State.

The Ionian Islands extend from the coast of southern Albania to the northwest coast of the Peloponnesus. The group, combined by administrative rather than geographic logic, includes many uninhabited rocks and islets as well as four large islands--Corfu (Kerkira), Leucas (Levkas), Cephalonia (Kefallinia), and Zacynthus (Zakinthos)--each of which, together with the smaller islands surrounding it, is governed as a separate province. Altogether, the Ionian Islands comprise 1.8 percent of Greece's land area.

The largest island, Cephalonia (746 square kilometers), is due west of the Gulf of Patras, which separates the western Peloponnesus from the mainland. Mountainous and rocky, Cephalonia and its smaller neighbor Ithaca (Ithaki) grow mainly olives and currants. Thirty centuries ago, Ithaca was the homeland to which the legendary Homeric voyager Odysseus sought to return after the Trojan War.

Corfu is the northernmost of the main islands, lying off the coast of Albanian Epirus and Greek Epirus. Corfu, with an area of 593 square kilometers, is dominated in the north by a mountain range that virtually severs its northern coastal plain from the territory to the south. The fertile southern lowland is cultivated intensively to grow olives, figs, citrus fruits, and grapes.

Settled by colonists from Euboea in the eighth century B.C., Corfu had a sporadically independent existence during the citystate era, participating on various sides in the wars among citystates in the fifth century and fourth century B.C. In the two millennia that followed, the strategic location of Corfu between Greece and Italy caused it to change hands many times; the capital city, Kerkira, contains a citadel built by the Venetians in 1550. The island was finally ceded by the British to Greece in 1864.

The third-largest and southernmost island, Zacynthus (402 square kilometers), lies off the northwest coast of the Peloponnesus. The island has a wide, fertile interior plain that provides more cultivated land than the other Ionian islands; currants are the main crop. The plain is enclosed on the east and west by limestone hills, which form steep seaside cliffs on the western shore.

Zacynthus, which was named after an ancient chief of Arcadia in the central Peloponnesus, was colonized by people from the Peloponnesus in the fifth century and fourth century B.C. The island was used as a base by the Athenians, then the Romans. After being sacked repeatedly by Vandals and Saracens and being fought over by Italian city-states between 1185 and 1484, Zacynthus was held by Venice until 1797. The years of British occupation ended with the cession of the Ionian Islands to Greece in 1864.

Leucas, smallest of the major Ionian Islands (303 square kilometers), hugs the coast of the southern Greek mainland, north of Cephalonia. The island's inland terrain is hilly, and the population is concentrated in the valleys and forests close to the east coast. The coastal lowlands are the main agricultural area, although higher basins farther inland also have fertile soil. The main crops are olive oil, red wine, and currants. A number of severe earthquakes have damaged populated places on Leucas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A smaller island, Meganisi, lies off the southeastern shore and is administered together with Leukas.

Leucas was first colonized by Corinthians in the seventh century B.C. They dug a canal across the marshy isthmus that originally connected Leucas with the mainland. In the second century B.C., the Romans then built a stone bridge to reestablish the connection. Rome made the island's capital, Levkas, a free city in A.D. 167, but the island was subject to periodic invasions and changes of jurisdiction during the millennium that followed. In 1718 Venice gained control of the island, then France and Britain alternated possession in the nineteenth century until Leucas was ceded to Greece in 1864. A modern canal was dug across the isthmus in 1903.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

1479 Western Greek island of Levkas (Aya Mavri), Kefalonya and Zenta, was taken by the Ottoman navy commanded by Gedik Ahmed Pasha(also known as Levkas, Leucade or Lefkada)

The castle of Agia Mavra is situated near the channel, 1.2 km outside Hora, and is the island's link with Sterea Hellas. The area was named Castle of Agia Mavra in Medieval years, and for a period of time the name applied to the whole island. The original building was constructed by the Sicilian, Ioannis Orsini, in 1300. It was built to protect the new capital of the island, which was transferred here from the town of Kaligoni. In the Castle, one can admire the church of Agia Mavra. According to tradition, the church was built in the 15th century by Helen Palaiologina who, persecuted in Constantinople, came to the island for the wedding of her daughter to the Count of Lefkada. Helen built this church in honour of Agia Mavra who protected her from the storm. Despite the tradition, historical sources mention the existence of Agia Mavra long before the 15th century, thus the historians claim that the island was named by the French knights of Duke Walter B' around 1330, in honour of their country Agia Mavra (Sainte Maure). After the island's occupation by the Turks in 1479, the church became a mosque. In 1485, Sultan Bagiazit ordered the construction of an aqueduct and a bridge joining the city with the castle. Today, one can only see the ruins of these constructions. In 1500, the Venetians restored the Castle, and in 1684, Morosini placed a lion, the symbol of Venice, over the gate. Apart from the church of Agia Mavra, the Castle housed the church of Latin Pandokrator and other buildings such as water tanks, three schools, barracks, hospitals, storage rooms and the head-office of the politicians. A fire in 1888 caused the destruction of the castle. After its renovation, it was used as barracks and later as a refuge camp, while, during World War II, the Castle suffered Italian attacks and bombardments. On its exterior, one can still see a few canons, as most of them were removed in 1864, after the union of the Ionian Islands with the rest of Greece. Today the castle is open to tourists and houses many cultural events during the summer.

Hadim Ali Pasha was the vizier of Sultan Bayezid II. When Sultan Bayezid II ascended to the throne, he appointed Hadim Ali Pasha to Karaman as the governor. After, he successfully returned from the Wallachia campaign, in 1486; he was rewarded by vizier rank. He joined the wars against the Mamelukes. He captured Mora, Modon, and Koron Castles, and Kefelonia, Ayamavri Island, in 1500. In 1501, he was appointed to be the grand vizier. Two years later, Hersekzade Pasha replaced him.

In 1506, he was appointed to be the grand vizier for the second time. He repressed Shah Kulu Revolt, but he died while he was fighting with the rebels. He was a brave soldier and a wise statesman. He had had built Atik Ali Pasha Mosque in Istanbul, and also he built two schools, and a hospice.During the reign of Sultan IV. Mehmed Han (1642-1693) 08.08.1684 The fall of the fortress of Ayamavri

Probably the name Kefalonia comes from a hero from Attica named Kefalos who fought on the island in about 5th century BC. The human presence on the island of kefalonia is dated to the Paleolithic period. During the Mycenaean period kefalonia was flourishing and the island had connections with neighboring Ithaca, Lefkada and even the far-off Cyclades. This communication was abruptly terminated in 1500 BC probably because of the great destruction caused by the eruption of the volcano on Santorini; it was restored two centuries later when the island began to flourish again. From the 11th century BC, until the end of the 7th century BC, there are few facts. In the next century the island became the Ionian Sea center for transit trade.